State Attorney and Public Defender (Duval County FL)

FPDA wrote:

<quoted text>
That would be same Florida Public Defender Association that elected Shirk Secretary in his second year and Vice President in his third year. This organization is made up of the 20 elected PD's.

Yes, we all know the FPDA is made up of 20 elected PDs and that they elected Shirk to the positions you mentioned. I am not following your point. One person mentioned about a non-attorney running and another poster said that would be impossible because the rule says a candidate must be a lawyer, etc. You then respond with your comment. Can you please elaborate?

Don't be too hard on FPDA - I'm sure they are feeling pretty lousy about now and wishing they could have a recount!

you betcha wrote:

Don't be too hard on FPDA - I'm sure they are feeling pretty lousy about now and wishing they could have a recount!

Sorry but that's limited to the half dozen or so idiots that post here.
Good luck finding your opponent for Shirk.

Shirk can't be all that bad. It took 7 lawyers and 5 firms to replace him.

What motive could Mr. Coxe and the others have for disgracing Shirk by having him removed? Think they want someone else in the position of Public Defender?

leavehimalone wrote:

Shirk can't be all that bad. It took 7 lawyers and 5 firms to replace him.

He is a publicity hound and nothing more. It's my opinion (and many others out there probably agree) that he is no where near as smart of an attorney as any one of the private attorneys who have now replaced him as counsel of record on the Cristian Fernandez case.

Hugh (and the private attorneys) wanted Matt off the case because he was killing the case and seriously hurting the boy's chance at a good defense.

Had the case remained with just Rob Mason and Deb Billard, it probably would have been okay but the second Matt realized this case would generate a lot of publicity all over (town, state, the world), he tacked himself on to the case.

How much you want to bet that the second Matt went to Rob and Deb and told them he was getting on the case, they cringed.

leavehimalone wrote:

Shirk can't be all that bad. It took 7 lawyers and 5 firms to replace him.

Until recently the case has been (mis)handled by the public defender's office so, yes, I imagine it will take a team of qualified lawyers to work the case up and give the kid adequate representation.

neato

I'll reiterate my thoughts on Shirk's reelection. We all know he has other aspirations. I say we let this idiot step all over himself for another few years and we'll ruin his career forever. He'll be easier to beat next time.
Anyone else agree?

He may get to serve another term if no one runs against him, but he's already ruined his public career forever.

Dear Shirk,

Now that I've outed you as incompetent, can I get my 500 bucks back?

Thanks,

Hugh Cotney

There's some buzz that the private attorneys had Shirk removed because they have someone to run against him. Has anyone else heard that?

Donald wrote:

<quoted text>BUTTERWORTH WAS WORTHLESS!

who is that and what does that have to do with the previous comment from which you based your comment on?

Gotcha wrote:

Dear Shirk,
Now that I've outed you as incompetent, can I get my 500 bucks back?
Thanks,
Hugh Cotney

Um, I'm thinking there might just be a long line of creditors.

Please wrote:

I'll reiterate my thoughts on Shirk's reelection. We all know he has other aspirations. I say we let this idiot step all over himself for another few years and we'll ruin his career forever. He'll be easier to beat next time.
Anyone else agree?

Yep, he's screwing himself up and we don't even have to do anything at all to assist. Can you imagine being the guy calling people to ask for campaign cash. "Ah, yes, the idiot in the paper" "Ah, no, he really does know what he's doing". Yikes.

Let's see which favored workers Angela and Matt give raises to. Don't forget you can see what they make on http://dmssalaries.heroku.com/salaries

On the Politijax Blog this morning (found at this website http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/403455/m... ):

Tucked in the House's $69 billion spending plan is language that allows state agency heads to give one-time 10 percent bonuses. The Senate's $70 billion budget out Friday makes no such offer.

The bonuses can go to 15 percent of an agency’s workforce. An employee must have worked for the state before July 2012, and have a clean work record to be eligible. Agency heads also can't give themselves a bonus.

Gov. Rick Scott's budget proposal gives agencies money to provide up to $5,000 bonuses to no more than 35 percent of an agency's workforce.

State employees have been less than thrilled with Scott and legislative leaders.

In June, firefighters, police officers, teachers and other public employees and their unions filed a lawsuit challenging a new law that requires public employees to contribute 3 percent to their retirement plans.

The change was one of last session's most hotly contested issues.

Gasp wrote:

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Um, I'm thinking there might just be a long line of creditors.

What's weird is I was just talking to Hugh and he's surprisingly a Shirk fan. In fact, I heard he was the one that convinced Fletcher not to run a few weeks ago. It's all very strange to me.

Interesting wrote:

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What's weird is I was just talking to Hugh and he's surprisingly a Shirk fan. In fact, I heard he was the one that convinced Fletcher not to run a few weeks ago. It's all very strange to me.

matt and hugh are friends? if that is the case, i wonder how matt felt when his friend asked the court to kick matt off the team (c.f. case) and let the private attorneys run things?

http://www.folioweekly.com/folio0214wkl007.ph...

State Attorney Angela Corey has been under a lot of pressure lately. In addition to overseeing last week’s plea deal in one of the most horrific crimes in recent memory — the Somer Thompson case — she’s been vilified for her unpopular decision to prosecute juvenile Cristian Fernandez as an adult. She’s also in campaign mode, having kicked off her re-election effort late last year.

But while Corey appears to be juggling the responsibilities of her office just fine, there are signs that the pressure may be taking a toll in other ways.

The day after Folio Weekly posted a January blog item suggesting Corey may have pressured employees to sign petitions for her re-election at the office Christmas party, she began trying to find out who’d leaked the info. According to public records requested by Folio Weekly, Corey’s information technology employee asked the city (which hosts State Attorney’s Office emails) to search all employee emails for those with the term “photos” in the subject line (Folio Weekly published a photo from the Christmas party). The office also asked for records of “anyone that sent an email to ‘@folioweekly.com’” as well as the email records of six employees apparently suspected of betrayal —“Angela Judah, William Caryle, Valorie Miller, Rebekah Holt and Stanley Moore”— and any emails sent to Jasen Hutchinson, a former employee of the State Attorney’s Office. Some employees theorize that the Folio Weekly piece even prompted Corey to cancel two recent Dress Down Days on Jan. 20 and Feb. 3.(The office raises money for the yearly Christmas party when employees contribute money for the privilege of dressing casually twice a month.)

Corey’s anger hasn’t all been behind the scenes. In a Jan. 24 phone call to FW editor Anne Schindler, she accused Folio Weekly of libeling her, and said she was rechristening Folio Weekly’s blog Flog “Trog”— a jab at its contributors. She called the Christmas party blog post “hideous” and even took a shot at the appearance of the reporter who wrote the original blog post.“I understand why she is what she is,” Corey raged.“I understand her need to spit venom. I do. I finally saw her for the first time.”

Folio Weekly reporters aren’t the only ones on the receiving end of Corey’s ire. Melissa Higgins, the New Hampshire woman who started an online petition to pressure Corey to try Fernandez as a juvenile (http://chn.ge/ z1FelV), says Corey telephoned her on Jan. 18, haranguing her for her online posts and emails. Higgins, who founded the website justice4juveniles.com in 2011 to oppose the adult prosecution of teenagers, says it was the second time that Corey has telephoned, and that Corey was furious.

“She was really angry. She said that I was ruining her career,” says Higgins, who recently started another petition seeking Corey’s removal from office.“She said it was none of my business, because I’m in New Hampshire.” Higgins added that Corey was so angry, it was “hard to get a word in edgewise.”

Higgins also may have inadvertently outed a particularly vicious commentator on The Florida Times-Union website as one of Corey’s sisters. In a public records request on Jan. 9, Higgins — concerned about the seemingly cozy relationship between Corey and Public Defender Matt Shirk (http://bit.ly/wLLHnV )— asked Corey and Shirk for all emails between the two since both took office in 2008. Corey’s office said the request might cost as much as $92,000, but Shirk said he would forward her the emails he had.

TO BE CONT IN NEXT POST